The Sin of Spin – The Politicians, the Media and the Church
by David Robertson, theweeflea:
[…] But it’s not just politicians. The same thing happens in other institutions as well. Once trusted newspapers, like The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Mail and The New York Times have become almost caricatures of Pravda the ironically named Russian State newspaper. (Pravda means truth). You don’t need to buy them to know what their angle on a particular story will be. They begin with the conclusion and then seek ‘news’ that confirms their pre-determined conclusion. It’s little wonder that people are so cynical about the MSM (mainstream media). The problem is that people then turn to the Internet where the spin is even more distorted and where algorithms ensure that you only hear what you already believe. It’s not that we believe nothing – the danger is that we will believe everything!
Let me give one example from a reputable newspaper – that involves yours truly. The Times yesterday carried a story about the Franklin Graham ban which quoted both Peter Lynas of Evangelical Alliance and yours truly (it’s good to know they read this blog!). The main substance of the story was fine but it was distorted by the headline “We are treated like the Uighurs claim evangelical Christians”. But that is not what either of us claimed. It’s a pejorative and untruthful headline which means “look at these dumb Christians claiming victim status as those they were Muslim martyrs, just because a right wing American fundamentalist got banned!”. Most people don’t read past the headlines, or if they do they see the story as confirming what the headline says. The bias, ignorance and prejudice of the journalist(editor) leads to the distortion of the spin.
The Church
And the church is not immune for this spinning. Whether it is the well-known pastor paying for his book to go up a few slots on the NYT bestsellers list, or the denomination reports that wonderfully spin the membership figures, the culture of spin has infected the church as well. I can think of so many examples that like John I don’t think the world would be sufficient for the books that could be written about them!
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